Changes in the motor vehicle fleet in the Greater Paris - Grand Paris - on 1st January 2025

After peaking in 2016, the number of vehicle owning households gradually declined, which accelerated as from 2021. This resulted in the fleet diminishing by over 26,000 vehicles each year, although this slowed down in 2024. At the same time, cars were used less frequently, particularly in Paris, where the distances travelled have greatly reduced in recent years, reflecting lasting changes in lifestyles and travel habits.

Alongside this, the vehicle fleet was rapidly transforming from a technical point of view. Alternative-fuel vehicles now represented 9% of the fleet, of which over 4% were 100% electric, while vehicles with internal combustion engines, particularly diesel, had left the fleet in huge numbers (450,000 fewer diesel vehicles since 2020), contributing to an improvement in the air quality throughout the metropolis. These changes were accompanied by household vehicles having a longer lifespans, in an uncertain economic and regulatory context with sales in the used-car market escalating.

These transformations had visible effects on refueling station infrastructures: there were fewer fossil fuel service stations (-63 between 2019 and 2024), recharging points were rapidly developing (approximately 6,000 new points between 2019 and 2025) and new models of electric charging stations were emerging.
 
In this context, the expansion of the commercial vehicle fleet should be interpreted cautiously. Although it partly reflected the growing needs linked to economic and logistic activities, it was also influenced by the effects of registration at company head offices, which did not necessarily correspond to an actual increase in traffic on the roads locally.